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CHINESE COURT SENTENCES THREE UIGHURS TO DEATH
[ETIC,
April 19, 2001]
On March 15, 2001, the court of Ili Prefecture of the Xinjiang-Uighur
Autonomous Region sentenced three Uighurs, Hamit Memet, Ilyas
Zordun, and Qasim Mehpir, to death for "splitting the country, illegal storage
of fire arms, and illegal crossing of the state border." The court
ordered to execute the sentence with the two years delay.
The Chinese police issued arrest warrants of these three residents of
the city of Ghulja in July of 1998 labeling them
"separatists".
On August 30, 1998, these Uighurs escaped to neighboring Kazakhstan to
save their lives and asked the Kazakhstan authorities for political
asylum. The Kazakhstan authorities denied them in the asylum and
decided to extradite the Uighurs to China. This decision was made
despite public outcries of Uighur communities in Kazakhstan and other
countries and international human rights organizations that the young
men will face executions if they are returned to hands of the Chinese
authorities.
Uighur communities around the world appealed to the government of
Kazakhstan and international human rights organizations to save lives
of these Uighurs. In particular, the Uighur community repeatedly
informed the Kazakhstan authorities that these youths will be executed
if returned to China, and, by this act, the government of Kazakhstan
becomes an accomplice in murder of innocent people, and that the act
will damage the friendship of the fraternal Uighur and Kazakh peoples.
The government of Kazakhstan neglected the appeals of the Uighur
community and human rights organizations and handed over the three men
to the Chinese authorities on January 22, 1999. Since then, Hamit
Memet, Ilyas Zordun, and Qasim Mehpir were kept in prison, and, by some
reports, they were subjected to inhumane tortures forcing them to
confess in committing crimes. [Batur]
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ETIC REPORT 2000 
